I mean its kind of a trade off. Sure it would be great for the people that would be positively affected by the raised minimum wage, but it is inevitable that some people would have to lose their jobs. And no doubt these people will run to the government and who will end up paying for them? I'll let you answer that. I also don't understand why more people don't get into a specific trade. My uncle owns a construction company and with a few weeks on the job i learned how to do nearly every aspect of flatwork concrete. Most places this is a decent paying job... around $15-25 depending on the size of the company. It might be more work.. but you need to do what you need to. Physically incapable people would be a whole different story.

I also don't understand why more people don't get into a specific trade. My uncle owns a construction company and with a few weeks on the job i learned how to do nearly every aspect of flatwork concrete. Most places this is a decent paying job... around $15-25 depending on the size of the company. It might be more work.. but you need to do what you need to. Physically incapable people would be a whole different story.

Going into a specific trade most often requires prior experience in the trade. So, if you had no experience in the field, good luck trying to get the specialized job. This fact really sucks because it's hard to even get the experience needed, because to get the experience you need to do the job, but you can't get the job... It's a bad cycle.

I didn't buy new clothes. I didn't have cable. I let bills become past due in order to keep food on the table and in the fridge. I kept my mouth shut and did my job, which I was thankful to have, just because it was the only source of income I had and knew I'd be up the creek without it. I knew that I would have to put my time in at the bottom like almost everyone else in order to get to where I one day wanted to be. I worked full time in college while my friends were out partying, going to nice places for spring break, etc. because I didn't have someone bankrolling my college experience.

I mean its kind of a trade off. Sure it would be great for the people that would be positively affected by the raised minimum wage, but it is inevitable that some people would have to lose their jobs. And no doubt these people will run to the government and who will end up paying for them? I'll let you answer that. I also don't understand why more people don't get into a specific trade. My uncle owns a construction company and with a few weeks on the job i learned how to do nearly every aspect of flatwork concrete. Most places this is a decent paying job... around $15-25 depending on the size of the company. It might be more work.. but you need to do what you need to. Physically incapable people would be a whole different story.

And you got a few weeks on that job because he was your uncle. Most people don't have that opportunity.

I guess not everyone has them... but still, do you have any opinions on a solution to the issue other than rioting to force higher wages? Or is that perfectly acceptable?

In the future, all menial tasks will be done by robots. With no real need for work, 50%+ of the population will live on "multi purpose food stamps", divvied out according either to people's contribution/"worth" to society or their social status, with creative fields being the only manned jobs.

Until then, lower the cost of living? But really, raising minimum wage is not a very farfetched or unreasonable task, and it would take care of itself entirely, with 0 repurcussions, if the 1% were merely taxes the same as the 99%. As someone else mentioned, other countries already have a minimum wage well above our minimum wage, and as "the greatest country in the world", I don't see what's preventing us from doing the same

Everyone has opportunities. Its America. I don't know how people can call it poverty when you have a roof over your head, food to eat, and clothes to wear, while there are people in Africa who could never dream of having such "luxuries". They barely can afford to eat, let alone wear clothes and have a home. Yet we have people complaining about making minimum wage who have iphones and laptops.

Just because we have a lower minimum wage than other countries makes our country less well-off than theirs?

Do you have any specific countries that you would like to mention who have higher minimum wages?

Do you know what it's like to go to work and effectively earn $1 an hour, because out of your actual $9.50 an hour, $8.50 goes on childcare?

Ooh ooh, I do I do!

You are 100% correct. But don't people have ANY connections in their lives? surely they have made friends/acquaintances throughout their years..

Not everyone has the privilege of networking with friends/family/acquaintances to get them into a better position, no.

Having been among the poorest of the poor for a while and supporting a family of four on one income through poverty, I personally don't think we should raise the minimum wage - or, at least not by several dollars an hour. There are cheap places to live. No they're not great places to live but they do the job. There are budget cellphones or land lines. Television and internet are not necessities. You don't need $8 razorblades or $35 haircuts or even shaving cream for that matter. When you're poor you cut back on things that most people take for granted if you want to dig yourself out of the hole. If you don't, you stay in the hole, and that's your decision. I don't think the government should step in. I don't think that we need to be paying poor people more money, I think we need to be empowering them to make better decisions about their finances if they -want- to. Some people are perfectly content being destitute and living beyond their means. And some select few will realize that making $1000 a month is a challenge that they can overcome even if they have x number of kids and a significant other to support.

Everyone has opportunities. Its America. I don't know how people can call it poverty when you have a roof over your head, food to eat, and clothes to wear, while there are people in Africa who could never dream of having such "luxuries". They barely can afford to eat, let alone wear clothes and have a home. Yet we have people complaining about making minimum wage who have iphones and laptops.

Just because we have a lower minimum wage than other countries makes our country less well-off than theirs?

Do you have any specific countries that you would like to mention who have higher minimum wages?

I highly doubt anyone living off of minimum wage can afford an iPhone

Australia (the land of @Strategist and kangaroos) has a particularly high minimum wage. $34,000 a year in US dollars, at $17 an hour in US dollars, working 38 hours per week. That's more than twice the minimum wage of the US. In my cursory glance, there are about 12 countries with higher minimum wages. For a complete list of minimum wages, consult Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia....ages_by_country

Just because we have a lower minimum wage than other countries makes our country less well-off than theirs?

Absolutely not

Do you have any specific countries that you would like to mention who have higher minimum wages?

Australia, Luxembourg, Monaco, France, Belgium, New Zealand, San Marino, Ireland, Netherlands, UK, and Japan. There are even more if you sort by "International dollars", which is a sort of attempt to uniform the currency of all countries.

The thing is, Australia may have a higher minimum wage, but the cost of living/everyday essentials is a lot higher as well. A few workmates that have just returned from the USA through work couldn't believe how 'cheap' everything was compared to the same thing here in Australia.

As far as the iPhone goes... i personally know a few (maybe 50) people that are in their late twenties and have worked minimum wage jobs their whole lives. I would estimate that 20 of them have iPhones... and about 40 of them have another version of a smartphone